Blumenthal, Murphy Move to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals

Senators: "We shouldn't give known criminals the benefit of the doubt when it comes to guns"

(Hartford, CT) - In response to the announcement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Charleston shooter Dylan Roof should have been prohibited from purchasing the firearm used in the murder of nine men and women last month, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. SenatorChris Murphy (D-Conn.) today announced that they will call on the Administration to take executive action to keep guns out of the hands of criminals by closing a loophole in the law and putting an end to the “default proceed” rule. Under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, the “default proceed” rule currently allows federally licensed firearms dealers who have initiated a background check, but have not been notified by the FBI within three business days whether or not the sale of a firearm to a certain individual would violate law, to sell the firearm.

"Keeping guns away from criminals is the best thing we can do to fight gun violence. Right now, as we saw with Dylan Roof in Charleston, the government is complicit in arming deadly criminals just because their complicated rap sheets take more than three days to track down," said the Senators. "We shouldn't give known criminals the benefit of the doubt when it comes to guns. If law enforcement needs more than three days to ensure they're not giving weapons to dangerous people, Washington must allow them the time to do their jobs. If we refuse to act, we're just biding time until this happens again."